ELECTION 2016 IN ARIZONA
Record voter turnout the morning of Election Day in San Tan Valley | 0:29

Debra Croft, a precinct inspector at Eduprize School in San Tan Valley, says they experienced a record turnout with more than 250 people voting before 10:30 am. She said there were more people in line the first hour than they have had all day.
Robert Anglen/azcentral.com

Yvonne Jimenez of Phoenix got in line at about 5:30 a.m. at Twin Butte Southern Baptist Church, 7202 S. 48th St. in Phoenix and said she got her ballot smoothly enough, but by then, the machine that accepted the ballots had frozen.
Russ Wiles/azcentral.com

Gilbert residents talk about the election after voting, Nov. 8, 2016, at the Freestone Recreation Center, 1141 E. Guadalupe Road. The polls close at 7 p.m. Anyone in line at 7 p.m. will be allowed to vote.
Thomas Hawthorne/azcentral.com

The race — which pitted business interests against the legal medical-marijuana industry backed by a pro-legalization group, the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project — echoed the 2010 effort to legalize medical marijuana, which narrowly prevailed. The tally of complete results was likely to take several days.

Republicans gathered at a downtown Phoenix hotel cheered the early results that showed Proposition 205 down.

Some said they voted against it because they don’t want stoned drivers on Arizona roadways. Others said they thought the measure was poorly written, saying it provided contradictory language on impaired driving. Prop. 205 says driving a car, boat or other vehicle while impaired by marijuana would remain illegal. But foes of the measure point to other language in the measure that says the state could not punish someone “for an action taken while under the influence of marijuana … solely because of the presence of metabolites or components of marijuana in the person’s body or in the urine, blood, saliva, hair or other tissue or fluid of the person’s body.”

Others said they didn’t like how marijuana legalization has played out in Colorado, which legalized the drug in 2012.

Wynona Meurer, 74, learned of Prop. 205’s early results shortly after 8 p.m. She was among those who voted against the measure.

“Marijuana rots your brain,” the Tempe Republican said. “I love it. It’s a miracle of God. The Christians voted the right way on this.”

Many of the No on 205 campaign staffers spent much of the night holed up in a war room crunching numbers, although top-level campaign staffers made appearances at the state GOP election night watch party.

After the Associated Press called the race, Adam Deguire of the anti-legalization campaign, told The Arizona Republic around 1:15 a.m. that voters “saw through an initiative drafted by marijuana special-interests.”

Deguire added: “The defeat of Prop. 205 helps to secure a safe and prosperous future for Arizona for many years to come. Tonight’s defeat shows Arizonans will not risk letting out-of-state interests buy the ballot box to drastically change our state.”

He said the campaign’s most effective messaging was sharing how Colorado was impacted by marijuana legalization on several fronts: public safety, youth use and public funding of education from tax revenues.

Barrett Marson, a spokesman for the pro-legalization campaign, did not immediately respond to the newspaper’s request to comment. Earlier in the night, he said the campaign had a shot at closing the gap.

Arizona appeared to be the only state to reject recreational marijuana of the five states that were considering it at the ballot box on Tuesday.

The party at Crescent Ballroom for the Yes on 205 campaign waned from its estimated 250 to 300 attendees after 11 p.m. Supporters cleared out around midnight as the polls showed both campaigns within 4 percentage points of each other.

Of the three large projection screens onstage, one showed running poll numbers of marijuana-related measures in other states.

Jason Chacon, 41, said that as polling remained close, he would be counting on younger voters to come through with their votes in support of the measure.

“There’s still a chance it’s going to be decided by a few thousand votes,” he said. “Keep hope alive.”

What is Prop. 205?

Prop. 205 asked Arizona voters to legalize cannabis for recreational use and establish licensed outlets where sales of the drug would be taxed, similar to the system in Colorado. Marijuana is illegal under federal law, but the Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act would allow people 21 and older in Arizona to possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana, carry it, grow it in their homes and give it away.

The measure would not allow marijuana use in public, and some violations of the act would be a petty offense.

What would happen

If Prop. 205 were to have passed, adults could have started legally possessing marijuana as soon as election results become official, according to the campaigns for and against the measure. Retail sales could have started in March 2018 and the program would have been regulated by a new Department of Marijuana Licenses and Control. Current medical-marijuana dispensaries would have gotten the first shot at a recreational pot license, which will at first be limited to 147.

Tax revenue from sales would first have funded regulation of the program, and excess funds would then have gone toward education and substance-abuse programs.

Using information from a federal survey on drug use, one analysis estimated 588,000 Arizonans 21 and older used marijuana in 2013. About 100,000 Arizonans are allowed to use cannabis for medical reasons.

Public attitudes have been softening nationally toward legalizing marijuana, driven in large part by young voters. Arizona was one of five U.S. states weighing ballot measures this election that would legalize recreational marijuana. Other states voted on medical marijuana, including Florida, considered a crucial state in the presidential race. Florida's marijuana measure appeared headed toward easy passage Tuesday night.

CON: KIDS CAN GET POT EASIER. Most children who drink or
smoke get alcohol or drugs from their homes or those of friends. Legalizing pot
for adults will make it even easier for kids to consume it.
Brennan Linsley/AP

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That could be due, in part, to the dueling messages and millions of dollars spent to blitz the airwaves with TV and digital ads, political experts said.

The measure started out ahead, earlier polls showed.

"Public attitudes on the subject of marijuana are moving in a pro-legalization direction ... and some of that has the character of gay marriage," pollster Mike O'Neil said. "A few states do it, and then it's not so unthinkable and that's sort of what the public chorus is here."

O'Neil said the No on Prop. 205's "really big negative campaign" that introduced information about how pot legalization played out in Colorado — even if the messages were false or misleading — appeared to resonate with voters.

The Yes on 205 pitch throughout the campaign was that legal marijuana would take money from the "hands of cartels," benefiting the state and schools. One aspect of the nation's failed war on drugs would end, campaign officials argued, and marijuana users would no longer be run through the criminal-justice system.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol spent more than $5 million to push for legalization in Arizona, largely from the marijuana and marijuana-related industry. The Marijuana Policy Project and its related foundation are the campaign's primary funder, as well as owners of various medical-marijuana dispensaries and marijuana-related businesses. On Tuesday, one medical pot dispensary was offering a free joint with a purchase for cardholders who presented "I voted today" stickers.

The other side, Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy, warned voters of a pot-scented apocalypse that would leave employers short-handed, emergency rooms stacked with overdosed patients, and motorists injured by drugged drivers. In their TV ads, they warned that children could accidentally eat pot-infused candies, and that legalization could set kids on a path to harder drugs.

In the final days of the campaign, Colorado lawmakers asked the No on Prop 205 campaign to yank one of its ads, which they criticized for "inaccurate and misleading statements" about how that state's tax revenue was distributed to schools.

Much of the more than $5 million funding the No on 205 campaign was raised by Gov. Doug Ducey, who sees legal marijuana as a threat to public safety and a thriving economy.

The anti-marijuana campaign was largely funded by companies and business groups who think legal marijuana could lead to less-productive employees, more impaired workers and drivers, and increased youth drug use. Major backers included Discount Tire founder Bruce Halle, of Paradise Valley, casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and a Chandler pharmaceutical company that touts its “capability to develop pharmaceutical cannabinoids.”

Tom Hamilton, 66, an independent voter from north-central Phoenix, struggled with how to vote on Prop. 205. In the end, he voted for it because he thinks it’s safer than alcohol.

“Nobody dies because of marijuana,” he said, adding that thousands of people do die of alcohol.

Hamilton, who spends part of the year living in Durango, Colorado, said he did not like the way the No on Prop. 205 campaign portrayed the way marijuana in that state was being marketed to children, through pot-infused candies.

Democrat Riann Holsonback, 43, of Phoenix, said marijuana is so prevalent, Arizona might as well reduce the penalties for those who use it and reap the benefits of tax revenue.

Republican voter Jane Evans, 59, of Mesa, cast her early ballot for Prop. 205 partly because she thinks public schools are desperate for money.

Montgomery argues Prop. 205 would make it too difficult for law enforcement to determine whether drivers are impaired. Holyoak maintains there’s nothing in the initiative preventing law enforcement from establishing a standard.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol event outside the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix on August 19, 2015. Supporters say legalizing marijuana could mean as much as $40 million for education each year.
Yvonne Wingett Sanchez/The Republic